[SunRescue] Q on "optimal" OS for Sun4c machines, now that So laris 8 won't run

[Dave McGuire]

On July 13, P.A.Osborne wrote:
> > This is the exact argument to support our positions - that companies should
> > not rely on manufacturers to serve as R&D.  It is our job to counter the
> > proposals to purchase shiny, new equipment, particularly when a cadre of old
> > boxes serve to feed the cash cow.
> 
> >From my position I cant justify financially keeping the older SS2s etc,
> the maintenance for a SS2 with 4 hour call out from Sun costs my employer
> around 400 gbp per year - we can get new Ultra5s  for just over 800 and
> the maintenance is absolutely minimal for the first three years.

  "Maintenance for an SS2"?!  You've got to be kidding.  That company
up in NJ that I wrote about several messages ago, with the stack of
SS2s..."maintenance" consists of having a closet full of spare SS2s
(at market prices of US$30/ea that's not difficult) and swapping out
the base if something dies.  Now, to that, one could argue that one
needs technical knowhow on-site to do that...not really; a trained
monkey can swap out an SS2 base in just a few minutes.

  And that's not even mentioning the fact that in nearly eight years
of running a good number of those machines up there, exactly ONE has
failed.  These machines just don't break.

  Conventional thinking is what causes these sorts of problems.  Sun
wants us to do what we're told and act conventionally, and not think
for ourselves so that (in the case above) they'll get to make money
selling us service contracts, AND they'll have the pleasure of
watching us throw out all of our PERFECTLY USEFUL SS2s (etc) and
handing them YET MORE CASH for newer machines...potentially before
they're actually needed.

  Upgrading due to pressure from a vendor's commission-driven sales
force is bogus.  IMO the only good reason to change out a system for a
newer one is when the original one is no longer cutting the mustard in
a way that is acceptable.

  If the machine is broken, sure, replace it.  If you want more speed,
sure, that's a perfectly good reason to upgrade a system.  But doing
it just because the [commission-driven] sales droids want you to is
pretty...well, sad.


                  -Dave McGuire